A UN panel of experts has said Venezuela's recent presidential election lacked “basic transparency,” adding to a growing chorus of voices questioning President Nicolás Maduro's claims of victory.
A four-member team sent to Venezuela by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has been in Caracas for more than a month ahead of the July 28 election, among a handful of outside observers invited by Maduro's government, the Associated Press reported.
While the UN experts praised the organization of the vote, they sharply criticized the National Electoral Council (CNE) for violating local rules by declaring Maduro the winner before results from each of the 30,000 polling stations across the country were available. The group said in a statement that this was “without precedent in modern democratic elections.”
“This has had a negative impact on the credibility of the results announced by CNE among a significant portion of the Venezuelan electorate,” the experts said in a statement released Tuesday.
The UN group's statement followed criticism from another invited observer, the Atlanta-based Carter Center, which said it could not verify the NIS results. Venezuela's foreign minister accused the Carter Center of lying and serving the interests of American “imperialism.”
The UN group stopped short of confirming opposition claims that its candidate, former diplomat Edmundo González, defeated Maduro by more than 2-1. But it said the voting records posted online by the anti-Maduro coalition contained all the original security features.
“This suggests that, as expected, a key mechanism is in place to ensure transparency around any officially published results,” the group said. experts added, noting that election officials did not meet with the group before it left Venezuela five days after the vote.
Since the election, security forces have arrested more than 2,000 people for demonstrating against Maduro or questioning his claims that he was re-elected to a third term.
Prepared by: Sergey Daga